President-elect Steve Geraci said he wants to get more students involved with the Student Senate after he takes office on March 23.
The Student Government Association will not have slate elections because Geraci and his slate, Team Us, were the only contenders for the executive offices, Kay Bales, associate vice president of student life, said.
"There is no campaign," Geraci, a junior, said. "The campaign never happened. There will be no voting. I am the president-elect."
Geraci's slate includes junior Chris Kurtz as vice president, senior Kari Jones as secretary and junior Michael Gallion as treasurer.
Geraci said although Team Us was unopposed, the team plans to take the executive positions seriously in the next few weeks.
"The fact that we're running unopposed is a low point," he said. "If the students would support us and organize -- and we would help them organize -- we could make some really important changes."
Sophomore Chris Fulton said he hadn't heard anything advertising the upcoming nominations for SGA slates.
"I don't feel it's advertised that well," he said. "I know a good amount of people would have taken an interest in it and definitely ran."
One way the slate plans to keep students informed about SGA is through a monthly phone tree with the student organizations on campus.
Team Us is enthusiastic about getting student organizations involved in SGA by going to the groups instead of making groups come to them, he said.
Sophomore Nate Gick said this idea would be more beneficial to organizations and SGA.
"It shows they want to do something and it's taking a step in the right direction," he said.
Part of the organization outreach will target the greek organizations, Geraci said.
"We want to use SGA's power and influence to aid them in regaining control of their own system," he said.
He said Team Us plans to focus on recruitment issues for fraternities in particular.
The slate plans to look into an all-greek formal to build bonds between fraternities and sororities and a plan to give sorority members the opportunity to live together in residence halls by requesting rooms together.
The university's Student Service's Web site that students use to access DAPRs, course schedules and past grades is currently offered from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Geraci said the Web site's time frame does not coincide with many college students daytime schedules.
"That's the student's information and we think the only reason Ball State isn't giving students the information is improper handling of the Web site," Geraci said.
Another way Team Us plans to help students is by pressuring for the faster construction of a new recreational center.
"Our recreational facilities are sadly inadequate," Geraci said. "There is more desire for better recreational facilities than there is for a new student center."
Team Us wants to bring more and better funding for the less-known Ball State intramural and club sports such as the Wizards, the Ball State ultimate flying disc team, who are state champions, but no one knows because of a lack of recognition and funding, Geraci said.
The Black Student Association is backing Team Us in their platform proposal to hire a black barber for campus, BSA Vice President Cameron Radford said.
The Team Us platform stated that students had complained about the lack of a stylist specializing in black hair styles.
"As a freshman I was kind of worried about where I would get my hair cut," Fulton said. "I think it would be a good idea."
A more unusual issue the platform addressed was the need for better toilet paper in the residence halls.
"It wasn't an attempt to make a joke or be silly. We think it's important to improve students' lives," Geraci said.
Housing Director Alan Hargrave said he has not been addressed about this issue, but if he was he would direct people to the Residence Hall Association.
"I think we have more serious issues than that," said junior Joshua Curtis in response to the Team Us proposal.
Check out the slate's platform at www.teamus.us.
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